Chapter 1: Awakening (Written By JWR832)

Death.

Death was not merciful. Death was not forgiving. Death, quite obviously, left you dead, and it did not care. Yet for some reason, Lieutenant Simon Riley and Sergeant Gary Sanderson were quite alive. Similar to the fashion they left Earth, they were side-by-side in a field, noticeably less on fire. Roach was the first to wake up and pick up on that.

"What the... What hapened?" Roach asked to no one. He remembered the events leading up to wherever this was. Recovered the DSM, got betrayed and shot by General Shepherd, set ablaze with Ghost. Where am I now? he thought. More importantly, why am I taking this so rationally? He pushed himself to a sitting position and looked around. A treeline was approximately 100 meters out, but the area was too flat to still be Makarov's compound.

He looked left, right, and behind, but found nothing but grassy hills. The skies were clear and the sun was shining, so that was at least a plus. Roach got to his feet and discovered scorch marks under where he was and Ghost's body. Well, we were in flames moments ago, so I suppose that makes sense. Roach took a step toward Ghost but stopped, feeling something under his foot. He lifted his foot up and miraculously found an ACR with an M203 launcher attached, his to be specific. He stared at it in wonder for a few moment before picking it up and investigating it. After a thorough inspection, disassembling, reassembling, and cleaning, he found that it was just as he had it before leaving for his last op. The safety was still off and the fire remaining on full-auto, too.
"Now this is just strange..." Roach muttered to himself. Suddenly, a thought came to mind. He patted around his body and found all of his equipment present, twenty-one magazines for his rifle, nine rounds for the M203, the AK-47 with a grenadier he was given upon exfiltration with nine mags for it and three rounds for the launcher, four frag grenades, four flashbangs, and ten claymores. This is insane! I know for a fact I was almost dry with pretty much everything by the time we got to the extraction point... Roach realized that his companion was still down for the count. He unceremoniously dropped the rifle and rushed to his partner's side. Roach quickly checked the masked man's pulse and found that thankfully, he was just knocked out, evidenced by his normal heart rate. Roach sighed in relief.

The dead silence of the air around of him allowed the circumstances of their situation to set in better. With another sigh, this one less joyful, he sat down and began the process of inspecting all of his equipment.
Twilight Sparkle sat in the library, copying notes from The Mating Rituals of the Common Woodland Frog. It was another normal day in Ponyville. She and her friends had gotten in a misadventure earlier that morning, but at least there wasn't another monster attack. Even after a considerable amount of time in the town, she couldn't figure out how the citizens could go on with their days so normally after repeated visits from various beasts, let alone the moderate population of the town.

But that was not important to her. What was important was being nose deep in a particularly riveting section when a belch from her number one assistant upstairs broke her from her frog sex-induced trance. Spike came down the stairs grumbling with bags under his eyes and a letter in one claw. Twilight was able to make out something along the lines of, "Letter from Celestia..." by Spike as he tossed it in the air and went back upstairs to nap more. Twilight caught it with her magic and unraveled it, eager to read what her mentor had to say.

"My dearest student Twilight Sparkle,
I'm afraid there is a serious problem. It has come to my attention that two creatures have entered Equestria outside of the Everfree Forest, through methods unbeknown to me. I need you and the other element bearers to capture these two and bring them to Canterlot. I've sent a group of royal guards to Ponyville to assist you if necessary. I cannot stress how crucial it is that nopony else knows of this. This is a matter of utmost national security and importance. I trust you and your friends, Twilight. I know if there's anypony who can do this, it is you. However, be wary. These beings are likely to be incredibly dangerous, so please, ere on the side of caution.

Your loving mentor, Princess Celestia"

Twilight gazed in shock at the letter for a minute, processing its contents. Princess Celestia wants me to capture two dangerous monsters? She was always unsure of herself when it came to tasks from the princess, but a matter of national security?

National security.

National. Security. The words ran through her head again and again, paralyzing her in fear. If she failed, Celestia wouldn't just send her to magic kindergarten. Not even magic preschool. No, she'd send her to Tartarus and make her Cerberus-food. At least, that's what she thought.

She paced back and forth. On one hand, she had handled monsters before with little to no trouble, such as Cerberus himself, an Ursa Minor, Discord, Etcetera. However, there was nowhere near as much pressure on her before. It was a matter of national security after all. That meant Equestria could be in extreme danger if she failed. Of course, she wasn't considering the fact her friends were there to help her, what with her currently being curbstomped repeatedly by pure fright.

Twilight took a series of deep breaths and called for her baby dragon. Spike stumbled down the stairs with half-lidded eyes and with a tone that could kill a manticore said, "What?" Twilight flinched at his voice, but didn't back down.
"Spike, I need you to help me. Princess Celestia's letter said that she needed the girls and I to capture two beasts by the Everfree Forest and that it was a matter of national security! If I fail, who knows what could happen? There might not even be a magic kindergarten for me to be sent to! Equestria is facing total destruction if..." Spike rolled his eyes and tuned out the rest of Twilight's paranoia-fueled rant. He walked over to the book she had been studying for the majority of the day, grabbed it, and shoved it in Twilight's mouth, while becoming slightly disturbed by the title. The action effectively silenced her.

"Are you ready to be calm?" Spike asked. Twilight narrowed her eyes and nodded. Spike pulled his claw back and Twilight spit out the book, wiping her tongue with her hoof in an effort to get whatever was on the covers out of her mouth.

"Spike! You're lucky I had a protection spell on that! Saliva can be incredibly damaging to a book!" Twilight chastised. Spike however, did not really care.

"Yeah, yeah, you've given me the proper book care speech 1,639 times," Spike dismissed. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off. "I've been counting. It's accurate." Twilight huffed.

"Anyway, I need you to get Pinkie and Rarity. I'm gonna get Rainbow and AJ. Once you've got them, meet me at Fluttershy's house." Spike visibly perked up at the mention of Rarity, causing a massive grin to overtake his face.
He gave a mock salute and exclaimed, "You got it!" With that, he zoomed out the door. Twilight figured that he either caught the reasoning for gathering the other elements during her embarrassing little tirade, or frankly didn't care as long as he got to see Rarity.
She then realized it might be a good idea to bring the Elements of Harmony themselves along. After she had retrieved them from their box, she formulated a plan of action. If she got to Rainbow Dash first, she could send the pegasus off to get Applejack, and explain the situation to Fluttershy, maximizing efficiency. Twilight herself was very surprised she was capable of even remembering what maximum efficiency was at this point, but she had long since learned not to question a good thing. She was about to set off for the ground under Rainbow's cloud house, but was stopped by the shattering of glass from upstairs which was soon followed by the screams of the rainbow mare.

Twilight groaned. "I'm going to have to give that pony a serious lecture about crashing through my windows..."
Roach had just finished re-inserting the clip of his last Beretta magazine when Ghost started to stir. Roach was thankful for his return to consciousness, seeing as going over all of his things twice was rather boring. He gently leaned over and shook Ghost's shoulder, only for the lieutenant to swat his hand away and mumble something Roach was glad he didn't hear. 'Oh, you wanna play like that?' Roach thought. An evil smirk came to his face. At the top of his lungs he bellowed, "Cup check!"

Ghost tensed immediately, and shot up with his hands instinctively covering his crotch. Roach couldn't help but laugh. When Ghost realized that his baby maker was indeed safe, he was less than pleased with his comrade's actions.

"If you'd've gone through with that, you would've been court martialed," he scolded.
"Oh? And how do you think they would've taken to the commanding officer being asleep on the job?" Roach fired back.
He noticed Ghost had nestled his own ACR into the crane of his elbow pointing down, where it pretty much always was. Old habits die hard, he thought.

Ghost scoffed. "Give me break, I've been shot with a .44. I deserve some rest if anything," he spat. He then joined Roach in standing.

"Well, you were also set on fire."

"Exactly, shot and set on fire." The implications of what was just said quickly set in. "Wait a second, I should be dead! And you too, probably. What did I miss?"

"I'm surprised you didn't take that more violently..." Roach mumbled to himself. "Well, I know just about as much as you do. I'd say I've been up for maybe an hour or more than you. All I can tell you is we certainly aren't in Kansas anymore, or Russia for that matter." He cast an arm out and waved around at the scenery.

"Spectacular," Ghost droned as he massaged his temples. "Have you tried establishing comms with anybody? Actual? Archer and Toad?"

"No, sir. I've spent the time going over my equipment. All seems to be in order. I even did a quick check of your stuff. I suspect you have the full loadout you had going into our last op. Don't ask me how you got here with it, I don't know. Praise Jesus and his miracles, amen."

Ghost rolled his eyes, even though it couldn't be seen behind his shades. "First off, I know I'm the senior officer here, but cut the 'sir' crap. I hate being called sir. As far as I'm concerned, as long as a general, Soap, or Price isn't breathing down our necks, you don't have to call me sir at all. Second, I suppose it's good you did that. Work on getting a hold of somebody and let me know if you do. I'll be scouting around. If there's a forest over there, my guess lies with there being some sort of civilization around here using that as a source of wood. I'm easy to find, if I don't find anything within the hour, I'll come back." Roach saluted and started fiddling with the headset hidden beneath his helmet.

What was it that Soap said about him in his journal? 'Raw, skilled, loyal?' Ghost pondered as he surveyed the area. He thought back to the times he read Soap's journal. And then he remembered the time he got caught. Never. Again. Though, he's certainly loyal, I'll give him that. Ghost walked to the peak of one of the foothills and looked about the horizon. He sighed. "Grass, grass, and more bloody grass..." he muttered. He did take note of a large mountain range way off in the distance. He desperately felt around for binoculars to no avail. "I could use a smoke right now..." He repeated the process with the binoculars yielding the same result. At that moment Ghost wished he wasn't in the middle of something important so he could run over to those trees and beat the living termites out of them, like a man.

For half an hour Ghost walked the area, hoping his thousand yard stare could go longer and perhaps see something of interest. The search bore no fruit, and Ghost made a mental note not to get shot and lose sight in one eye again. Not that he planned on it to begin with, anyway.

Something of interest did come from Roach though. His headset crackled to life. "Get back to me ASAP, I've made a rather important discovery." Ghost whispered a quick prayer and ran back to Roach, hoping this wasn't the cruelest joke of all time. If it was, he couldn't guarantee Roach would still have a functioning windpipe after he left.
The padding of his feet upon grass came to an end as he settled down next to Roach, who had his headset on the ground. "Now, at first, you're probably not gonna hear it. In fact, I don't think you could ever hear it without me pointing it out. But listen," Roach pressed two buttons and the familiar and harsh noise of static graced the air around them.

Ghost gave him a disappointed glare. "Static."

"Absolutely correct, Gene tell him what's he won!" Roach waited for any sort of response from Ghost. It never arrived. To break the silence he cleared his throat. "Right, um, that was regular static. Now here's sample two." More static played through the speakers. Ghost was clearly still unimpressed.

"You're testing my patience here, Roach." Ghost clenched his knuckles together. Roach looked a little worried.

"There's the violent man I know and love. Take those off -" Roach commanded while pointing to the headset the masked man beside him had on, "- and listen through these." Ghost complied and now had Roach's headphones on. "I'm going to enhance the part I want you to hear. Listen close." Roach messed with some small dials and pressed another button. The static from before, but a hissing-like noise could clearly be made out. Ghost stared at Roach, who now had a grin plastered across his face, unseen to the world. While masks of all sort were undeniably cool, they didn't provide much in the way of conveying emotion. "I take it you hear what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah... who's frequency was that from?" Ghost questioned. This was perhaps the first not terrible thing that had happened to them all day.

"That's the thing, I have no idea. It makes no sense. Everything that should be working doesn't work and everything that shouldn't work, doesn't work." Roach added a sheepish shrug at the end. Ghost just folded his arms. "That isn't the only off thing though, in fact, this entire place seems off. It's creepy. Doesn't sit well with me."

"Toughen up, soldier. I do know what you're talking about though. You feel like you're being watched?"

"Yeah. I wish we had those heartbeat sensors from the Kazakhstan mission, that would help a lot here. I suppose we should just brush it off and move on." Ghost nodded. The two discussed what their next move was.

They were indeed being watched.

From the forest, a bug pony took to the skies, unseen by either of the strange creatures she was just spying on. She made great haste for the hive. She did have a lot to report, after all.

The Queen would be very happy with her.

Chapter 2: Warm Welcome

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"Get yourself together, you idiot!" Ghost kicked Roach's assault rifle a few inches closer to him, who was sitting on the ground, brushing dirt from his uniform. "Almost like you've been drinking again! Can't even see a bloody root around your feet!"

"Can it, Riley," Roach said. He leaned down and picked up his assault rifle, pulled the magazine to clear any dirt or debris in side it, and cocked it back in as he stood up, brushing himself off. Ghost gave him a light shove on the shoulder.

"You know I hate it when you use my real name," he said, "But I'll let it slide this time. Anything on the comms?"

Roach clicked on the radio on his shoulder, and spoke into it.

"Mayday, mayday, this is-" He was cut off when Ghost slapped him in the back of the head. "Hey- Ow! What was that for!?"

"We aren't on a bloody sinking ship," Ghost replied. "We're stranded in God-knows-where."

Roach rubbed the back of his head. "Alright, alright. Lemme try this again" He clicked on the radio again, paused, then screamed at the top of his lungs. "OH, PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP US-"

Ghost snatched away the radio, and clicked it on. "Overlord, this is Ghost of the T.F. 141. Requesting an air lift at our location." He clicked off the radio, waited, and was greeted with nothing but static. He clicked it back on. "Overlord, this is Ghost. Our escort, Thunder Two-One has disappeared. Requesting evac at our location." He clicked it off again. Still nothing. "Overlord!" When the static continued, he grunted in frustration and threw the radio back to Roach. He was taken by surprise, fumbling it as it hit him, then dropped it. He quickly dropped to his knees, grabbing up the radio. He brushed away the dirt, and fastened it back to his shoulder.

"Well, ain't that wonderful?" Roach asked sarcastically. "We're stranded without comms and full ammo, and we're supposedly dead." He turned around, holding his arms out to his sides. "Alright, guys," he laughed. "Very funny! Now where's the hidden cameras?" He held up his rifle. "Maybe this isn't even a real gun!" He fired a couple of shots off into the air, and birds scattered from the trees in every direction. "Nope, it's real. Maybe THIS isn't even a real grenade-"

"Alright, alright!" Ghost stopped him before he could do anything more dangerous than he already had. "Trust me, this rubs me the wrong way too, but you don't know what's out here! You feel comfortable fighting a bear, Sergeant?"

"Well, I'm armed to the teeth, and I imagine I'm much angrier than a mama-bear guarding her cubs. I could really care less what shows up, 'Lieutenant'."

"Uh huh." Ghost crossed his arms. "And is that before or after she tears your leg off?"

Roach winded up a retort, but he was cut off by a growling from the bushes. Both of them immediately aimed their rifles toward a shady area in a dense part of the forest, with nothing but leaves, grass, and tree bark.

Except the tree bark was moving.

And it was moving right toward the soldiers.

"What do you think?" Ghost asked. "Friendly?"

"I dunno," Roach replied. "You think a moving tree is our friend?"

Once again, they were interrupted by movement in the bush, as the "tree" sprang out from the bushes. But instead of a tree, it was bark and branches that walked on four nimble legs tipped with sharp claws, and a trunk-like body headed by a long muzzle filled with sharpened daggers of wood.

Ghost kept his weapon aimed at it, but Roach immediately lowered his to rant.

"Alright, so it's a tree that looks like a dog. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore." The "dog" growled, taking a single step forward, then let out a long howl.

"That ain't a dog, you wanker," Ghost said. "That's a wolf." He paused, then lowered his weapon a few inches, a hint of humorous disappointment in his voice. "Made of timber."

Long, awkward silence.

"Ghost?"

"Yeah?"

"Shoot me."

---

"National security, she said!"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were headed for Applejack's farm when Twilight finally snapped. Rainbow Dash was still brushing glass out of her mane from Twilight's window, and Twilight was in a furious state of anxiety.

"National security means that this could be just as bad as the Changeling invasion or- or as bad as Discord escaping again!" Her mane was ruffled with worry, and she couldn't stop sweating. "Or maybe it's worse than BOTH of those!"

"Take it easy, egghead," Rainbow Dash said, finishing her mane grooming. "I'd bet all my bits that Spike and Pinkie made this up to scare you."

"B-but they wouldn't make up a National security threat! Not only is that legally wrong, but it's also not funny! There's no way they'd make up something like this. And the letter was definitely in Princess Celestia's penmanship. This is a real threat to Equestria, Rainbow! And we need to get the other elements so we can figure this out!"

Rainbow Dash yawned into her hoof. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, egghead. I'm telling ya, the other girls are just gonna tell you the same thing."

"Two random creatures appear on the edge of the Everfree, and you think it's nothing!? Somepony could've been trying to summon something to attack Equestria! You don't know if they succeeded or not! It's our duty as the elements to-"

Twilight was cut off by the sound of a couple of loud cracking noises in the distance, very near to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Twilight tensed up, but Rainbow Dash just raised an eyebrow.

"There!" Twilight said. "You hear that!? That can only be those creatures Celestia was talking about!"

"Or, and I know this sounds crazy," Rainbow began, "It could've been a tree falling. Maybe two. Now before you go off on your 'improbability' rant, you might wanna-" She was cut off by the sound of a loud howl. "See? Just some Timber wolves. No biggie. Now let's go."

"Wait," Twilight said, stopping her with one hoof. "I think we should check it out.

"What!?" Rainbow Dash got right in Twilight's face. "Are you crazy!? I'm not going after an angry pack of Timber wolves!"

"Oh, come on, Rainbow," Twilight replied, gently pushing her away. "What's the matter? Can't handle a few Timber wolves?"

Rainbow Dash looked absolutely offended. "Whoa, whoa, whoa there, egghead. You think I can't take on a few Timber wolves?"

"I said no such thing," Twilight said. "I'm just saying that it's a little surprising that the big bad Rainbow Dash 'doesn't want any trouble'. I dunno about you, but that just sounds weird to me."

"Now just hold on a second," Rainbow said. "Last time I checked, you've gotten into a LOT more trouble in the past year than I have in my entire life. Now I can go on all day about that, but I don't have that kind of time. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't get mixed up in any more trouble, that's all." Twilight gave her a doubtful look, and Rainbow Dash sighed. "Fine, we'll check it out. But we're keeping our distance." Rainbow Dash headed off in the direction of the howl, ducking into the brush. Twilight smiled as she went, then frowned when she wasn't looking. With a heavy sigh, she followed the element of Loyalty into the bush.

That's when the fighting started.

---

"Ghost!?" Roach called behind him. "This isn't working!" He clicked the clip from his rifle, loading in another.

"And the bloody sky's blue!" Ghost yelled back. "Tell me something I don't-" He was cut off as he was tackled to the ground, his rifle knocked from his hands.. One of the wooden wolves had pinned him to the ground, and he was barely holding back its gnashing teeth from his throat.

"Ghost!" Roach yelled, turning his rifle toward the beast that was attacking his partner. But before he could fire, he was knocked aside by another of the beasts, his rifle slipping from his fingers. He landed hard on his side, rolling over to see one of the wolves only feet from him, saliva dripping from its muzzle. After staring at it for a moment, he realized the saliva was actually sap, only further increasing the irony of the situation. He rolled his eyes. "Oh, that is just-"

The wolf charged, leaping for him with its claws outstretched, Ghost rolled just in time as the wolf landed right where his head was before. He pulled his pistol from its holster, and got up on one knee to fire. But once again, he was cut off as the wolf pounced him again, knocking him to the ground. The pistol landed only inches from him, just as the wolf landed right on top of him, aiming for his throat. He felt something sharp sink into his right shoulder, and he let out a loud yell of pain. He kept wrestling with the wolf, grabbing it by the throat, but the wolf didn't even gag. He didn't even have time to curse before there was a hail of splinters. The wolf yelped, spiraling away, a bullet hole where its "eye" had once been. Roach's hand immediately went to his shoulder, and when he pulled it away, it was soaked with blood. He instinctively returned his hand to his shoulder, looking up to see Ghost a few meters away with a smoking pistol in his hand. He was bruised and scratched, but seemingly unharmed.

Ghost quickly closed the few meter gap, kicking Roach's assault rifle across the dirt to its owner. Roach grabbed it up, and pointed it at the immediate threat in front of him.

Three more wolves that were stalking towards them, bristling (or splintering) with anger. Roach didn't turn his gaze when he spoke.

"You take left, I take right, then we both get center?"

"On your go,"

But the lead wolf had already begun to charge.

Only to be blasted away by a large, purple... Blast?

The wolf was knocked away into the brush, and the other two whimpered before running the opposite direction back into the forest.

The two soldiers lowered their guns a few inches, baffled by what had just unfolded in front of them. There was a rustling from the bush to their right, and their guns immediately turned in that direction. And they were shocked by what stepped out.

"Uh, Roach?" Ghost asked. "You seein' what I'm seein'?"

"Yeah," Roach replied. "And I'm not sure what I'm more confused about. The fact that these two just served up a piping hot plate of death ray, or the fact that they're a couple of colorful ponies."

Chapter 3: Back In The... Saddle?

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Twilight was baffled.

Not only were two creatures from another world now standing only feet from her, pointing some sort of weapons at her, and now holding her and her fellow element-bearer in a tense stalemate, but somehow, most confusing of all, they all spoke the same language. She had no idea what her next move should've been. None of them did.

No one spoke. No one moved. No one even breathed.

After what seemed like an eternity, Twilight knew someone had to take control of the situation. She took it upon herself. She took in a deep breath, straightened up, and heaved out her chest to represent a figure of the authority she clearly didn't have.

"Um, my name's Twilight Spark-" Twilight was cut off when the first of the two creatures burst out in laughter. Twilight was taken completely by surprise, and she almost tripped over her words as she spoke again. "Uh, did I say something funny?"

The creature completely ignored her when he spoke through his laughter. "You hear that, Ghost!?" the creature said. "The bloody horse can talk!" The creature was bent over in laughter, and Twilight tensed up when it pointed at her. "A-and you're gonna tell me that you're the one who tore apart that Timber wolf?" Twilight felt like her tongue was disconnected from her brain. She just nodded slowly. The creature fell over, laughing hysterically. Twilight tilted her head in confusion, and Rainbow Dash just yawned sarcastically. Instinctively, Twilight looked to the other creature, completely forgetting that they were possibly a dangerous threat to Equestria.

"Um, is he okay?" Twilight asked. The other creature didn't respond. It just cast a small glance toward the other creature.

"Get yourself together, Roach. We've got a lot to straighten out here." The creature turned its attention back to Twilight. "I don't know who you are, or what you are for that matter. I don't know why we're here, and I sure don't know how we're still alive. And if we-" It paused, taking another small glance at his hysterical partner. "If I don't get some answers soon, I'm gonna be scratching the itch on my trigger finger. You got that?" Twilight's expression only became more confused, but Rainbow Dash still looked bored. Twilight spoke up again.

"Um, not really, no."

The first creature's laughter was starting to die down, and he was slowly getting back up to his feet. He didn't bother picking up his weapon, since his arms were occupied with cradling his aching gut. The other got back to the interrogation. His weapon didn't lower an inch.

"Alright, let's start simple. Where are we?"

Twilight took another deep breath, reassuming the authoritative stance she had before. "You're in the Everfree forest."

"Uh huh," Ghost said. "And where is that?"

Twilight deflated a little. "Um, Equestria."

"And where is THAT?"

"Equis?" Twilight thought these two creatures were absolutely clueless. What she didn't know was that she was absolutely right.

"You're really trying my patience here," the creature said.

"What?" Twilight fired back. "I answered your questions fine! You're in the middle of the Everfree forest on the edge of the land of Equestria on the planet Equis!"

The creature paused, then very slowly lowered its weapon. The other creature had stopped its laughing fit, and now both of them were staring at Twilight, but she couldn't read their expressions under their masks.

"Wait a second," the creature interrogating them asked. "Did you just say. On the planet?"

---

A few minutes later, after everyone calmed down, they finally got together to sort everything out. The two creatures sat down against a rock and a tree, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash had laid down across from them. They had taken some time to patch up the wound on Ghost's shoulder from the Timberwolf attack, but his shoulder was still stained with blood. Twilight had just gotten finished explaining many very confusing things to them when they had finished patching him up.

"So let me see if I got this right," the calmer of the two said. "We're on a planet that looks suspiciously like our home planet, inhabited by colorful ponies, one of you can fly, and the other's a wizard-"

"Unicorn," Twilight corrected.

"Unicorn," the creature corrected itself. "You're all ruled over by two bigger ones, and it just so happens that they control the time of day."

"That's right," Twilight confirmed. The creature sighed, leaning its head back against the rock.

"I must be drunk again," it barely murmured.

"What was that?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash just grinned.

"It was nothing," the creature said, but the other one spoke up almost immediately after.

"He has a drinking problem."

"Oh," Twilight replied, almost monotone.

The first creature cut a glance at the other, then turned its attention back to Twilight. "You tried to tell me your name earlier before my friend here cut you off. What were you gonna say it was?"

"Twilight Sparkle," she said with as much confidence as she could.

"Sounds like a character from a bedtime story," the creature said bluntly.

Twilight looked almost offended. "Oh yeah?" She said, far from threatening. "Well what's your name?"

"I'll get to that," the creature said. "When I'm sure I can trust you." It looked at the pony next to Twilight. "What's your name?"

"What's it to ya?" Rainbow Dash replied cooly. The other creature couldn't help but chuckle, and the first admired her brashness as well.

"Tough one, eh?" the creature asked. "You don't have to be so unruly with us. No one's keeping you here. But do you really wanna leave a couple armed men running around in the forest?" No response, just a smirk from Rainbow Dash. "I didn't think so. Now what's your name?"

"Dash," she said. "Rainbow Dash."

"Alright," the creature said. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"Now what's your name?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I think now you owe us one." The creature paused.

"Riley," the creature said. "Simon Riley. You can call me Ghost. Don't ask why, it'll take forever to explain."

"Uh huh," Rainbow Dash huffed.

"And what's your name?" Twilight asked the other. "If it's alright that I ask." The other creature leaned forward, its tone turning serious.

"Gary Sanderson. Call me Roach."

"Roach?" Twilight was clearly confused, but she shook her head before she started asking questions. "Nevermind. I'm glad we understand each other now."

"Glad to hear it," the one named Ghost said. "Just one more question. "How'd you find us?"

"Well, it's a funny story, actually," Twilight said. "We were just on our way to get the rest of the element-bearers. You know, the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ghost said. "The ones named after all those virtues or whatever."

"That's right," Twilight said. "See, when we're together, we're nearly unstoppable."

"So you were getting them to try and stop us?" Roach asked. "I'm flattered." Twilight shifted uncomfortably, and went on.

"Anyways, Princess Celestia, the one I told you about that controls the sun, sent a letter to me and my baby dragon, Spike-"

"Whoa whoa, whoa," Roach cut her off. "Am I hearing that right? Baby dragon?"

"Um," Twilight paused. "Yes? Haven't you ever heard of a dragon before?"

"Yeah," Ghost said. "That's his problem. Where we're from, dragons are a fairy tale."

"Dragons, huh?" Roach scratched his chin. "So if those exist here, is there anything else that lives here we should know about? Fairies, giant snakes, Gryphons?"

"You ever meet Gilda?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Best Gryphon I know."

Roach paused, then facepalmed.

"Well then," Ghost said, "Moving on. What were you saying about that letter?" Twilight went on.

"Princess Celestia sent us a letter that said two creatures appeared in the Everfree, and nopony knew how they got there. She said they were to be regarded as dangerous, and could be a threat to National security. So we were sent to find you. Considering I've never seen anything like you two before, I'm assuming you're them."

"Glad we got that figured out," Roach said. "So did your Princess tell you what to do when you found us? Don't tell me, lemme guess. Take us straight to her?" Twilight started to speak, then stopped. When she didn't respond, he went on. "And how did you think you were gonna do that?"

"Well, we were gonna gather up the rest of the Elements and try to bring you to her as peacefully as possible," Twilight replied.

"So you were gonna try to peacefully capture two national security threats-" Roach was cut off when Ghost started to speak.

"Alright. Then why haven't you taken us back to her yet?" Roach and the two ponies looked at him in utter shock. Ghost started to stand up, grabbing up his rifle. The two ponies tensed, and he froze. He slowly held his hands out to the side to prove he meant no harm, stood up the rest of the way, and slung his rifle over his shoulder. "Before you ask, the answer is yes. We're going to let you take us back to your boss." Roach stood up a little quicker, not caring about how the ponies reacted.

"Ghost," Roach said. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He grabbed Ghost by the shoulder, turning him around, away from the ponies. He leaned in close enough to whisper. "Are you out of your mind? You're just gonna let these talking ponies that we just met take us back to their leader? Are you even thinking about what they might do to us?"

"They sound nice enough to me," Ghost replied, a little less urgently. "They just said that they were gonna capture us 'as peacefully as possible'. They clearly aren't trying anything."

"We're a couple of creatures that just randomly appeared on their homeland!" Roach retaliated. "What would MI6 do if some random, unknown creature appeared on their land and was declared a national threat?" He put a hand on Ghost's shoulder. "Oh, that's right, lock 'em up and interrogate them until they either gave up everything they knew, or they drowned!"

"Roach," Ghost said, "Last time I checked, this isn't the MI6." Ghost pushed off Roach's arm, and turned around toward the two ponies. They were both standing up, and were staring down the two of them. Before ghost could talk, Roach murmured one last thing in Ghost's ear.

"They'd just better be glad that this wasn't the other way around, if they just appeared on our land from out of nowhere, we would've shot 'em dead." Twilight gasped, a hoof pressed to her muzzle in shock. Rainbow Dash didn't look too happy about the comment either. "What?" Roach went on. "I'm just being honest."

"Take it easy," Ghost told them. "You don't try anything funny, neither will we. Promise." Neither of the ponies looked convinced. "Nevermind. If you can just take us to where your Princess is, we'll get this all figured out. We'll even walk in front, if you just tell us where to go. Deal?" Twilight and Rainbow Dash shared a quick glance, then they both nodded. "Perfect." He turned to Roach, who held out his hands in an "after you" motion. Ghost turned to the ponies, staring at them almost expectantly. Twilight finally snapped out of it.

"Oh, right!" Twilight said. She stepped to the side, and pointed back in the direction they came. "That way." Ghost nodded, then stepped past the two ponies, his weapons all holstered or hung up. Roach soon followed, holding his hands up in a cautions position as he passed around the ponies in a wide half-circle, then caught back up to Ghost when he was a safe distance away. Twilight cast a slightly concerned glance at Rainbow Dash, who just rolled her eyes, and followed after the two soldiers. Twilight sighed.

"How do things like this always turn into my responsibility?" She followed after Rainbow Dash, still murmuring to herself as they headed off toward Canterlot.

Up ahead of them, the two soldiers were murmuring to each other.

"Hey, Ghost?" Roach asked. Ghost turned his head. "How are we gonna get back home?" Ghost just shook his head.

"We're dead, Roach. We don't have a home to go back to."

The two of them were silent the rest of the way.

---

Canterlot.

It was the biggest, cleanest metropolis the soldiers had ever seen.

That was until every single citizen they passed on the way to the castle started staring at them, and they did not look happy.

"Just ignore them," Twilight told them. "They're just not too happy seeing new creatures strolling down the street. Especially not with us."

"Oh, yeah," Roach said, "That makes me feel so much better."

"Hey," Ghost said, giving him a nudge with his elbow. "You remember what the squad always told us to do when walking through a hostile country?"

"Yeah," Roach said. "Don't talk, don't make eye contact, and whatever you do, don't smile at anyone."

"Atta boy," Ghost said, patting him on the back.

As soon as they reached the main doors of the palace, Twilight took the lead, making it a point to enter first. Immediately inside was the Princesses' throne room. But, unlike many times of crisis, it was empty of its occupants. All that remained were a few guards. One of them came to greet her.

"Miss Sparkle," he said, holding his spear straight up. "The princess is waiting for you."

"Thank you," Twilight said as Rainbow Dash joined her. "Can you do me a favor?" The guard straightened up. She took a discreet glance back at the two soldiers behind her. Roach waved, and Ghost nudged him with an elbow in the side to stop him. Twilight looked back to the guard. "Can you keep an eye on these two?" The guard saluted, and trotted past Twilight, spear in hoof. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "You can go now, Rainbow. I'll come get you if I need any more help."

"Whatever, egghead," Rainbow Dash said, shrugging. "Just don't do anything too crazy this time, okay?" Before Twilight could respond, she flew back out the door and disappeared. Twilight just sighed, and quickly headed for Princess Celestia's quarters.

The guard stepped past the two soldiers to meet up with the other guards, five of them in total. They deliberated for a moment, then one turned away from the crowd to approach the two soldiers.

"My name is Iron Hoof. I am a Royal Guard for the Princess Celestia. Do you understand me?"

Roach spoke up first. "Yeah, uh, dónde está el baño?" Ghost kicked him in the side of the leg.

"Sorry about him. Yes, we understand you."

"Good," the guard said. "Now, to make sure you are not a direct threat to the Princesses, we are ordering you to relieve yourself of any and all weapons you have on yourself." Ghost took the rifle from his shoulder, placing it slowly on the ground, and began unstrapping his gear. Roach shook his head, and started to remove his own gear. He murmured to Ghost when he bent down to unstrap his pistol.

"I'm not sure I like this."

"Just play along," Ghost said. "What're they gonna do? Poke you with those toothpicks of theirs?"

Just as they had removed almost all of their gear, a grenade slipped from Roach's combat vest. One of the guards immediately picked it up, and was recklessly examining it.

"Hey, hey!" Roach yelled. The guard immediately stopped, the grenade still in hoof. Ghost stopped too, halfway through arranging his gear in a stable pile at his feet. "Don't move." The guard froze like a statue, a look of sheer confusion in his eyes. The other guards were already alert, spears at the ready. "Do you speak English?"

"English?" the guard asked. "What?"

"Nevermind. What color's your blood?"

"What?" The guard asked. Roach repeated his question.

"What color. Is your blood?"

The guard tilted his head ever so slightly. "Red?"

"Do you wanna paint this entire room that color?" The guard's eyes widened, and he shook his head slowly. Roach pointed at the grenade. "Then I suggest you put that down as slowly as you possibly can." The guard paused, then gently lowered his hoof to the ground, gently setting down the grenade. It slowly started to roll, and the guard immediately backed away toward the other guards as fast as he could, leaving his spear behind. Roach grabbed the rolling grenade, and hooked it back onto his vest. He let out a deep breath. "Alright, we're good." All of the guards let out a relieved sigh, and immediately returned back to their original guarded stances.

Ghost rolled his eyes under his mask. "Amateurs."

---

In Princess Celestia's private quarters, Twilight was already discussing the two creatures with the Princesses. They were all laying on the furnished rug of the Royal study, and the Princesses were astonished at what they had heard.

"Are you sure you've never seen something like this before?" Twilight asked Princess Celestia.

"Not to my knowledge," the Princess replied. "There's no record of anything like them in any of Equestria's history. Did they try to harm you?"

"No," Twilight replied. "Actually, they were very peaceful with us. One of them's kinda annoying, but the other's very reasonable. I don't think they mean us any harm."

"Hm," Princess Celestia paused, and Princess Luna spoke up.

"We think that we should keep a watchful eye on these strange beings for a while. No matter what they have done, they are still not to be trusted."

"I agree, sister," Princess Celestia replied. "But they have to be here for a reason. New creatures such as them don't just appear for no reason without any clue why they're here. Somepony, or something, must have brought them here."

"Maybe it's just another one of Discord's tricks," Twilight suggested.

"No," Princess Celestia said. "He may be a trickster, but even he is forbidden from tampering with creatures from other worlds. It must be something else. Something with great power, and no rules or regard for other beings."

"We could compose a whole list of beings of such a stature!" Princess Luna said.

"Agreed," Princess Celestia replied. "But we need to go about this carefully. Twilight." Her student immediately perked up at the mention of her name. "I need you to buy us some time while we deliberate. Find out anything you can from them. Anything they remember, anything they know. But don't startle them, we don't know what these beings are capable of, and we need to make sure that they do not try to leave."

"I'll do my best, Princess Celestia," Twilight replied.

"I know you will. You always do." Twilight got up to leave. Her face was a mask of determination, but inside she was terrified. She was just put in responsibility of two strange beings from a whole other world. She thought she would just bring them here, and never have to worry about them again. How wrong she was.

Just as she was about to exit, Princess Luna stopped her. "Are you alright, Twilight? You look as though you have seen a ghost."

"I have, actually," Twilight said.

"A ghost and a roach."

Chapter 4: Misery Loves Company (And Cupcakes)

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"Um, wow. You sure were hungry."

After Twilight's comment, Roach leaned back in his undersized chair, patting his full stomach with both hands. Having demolished a dozen cupcakes in one sitting, he was feeling very satisfied.

Soon after Twilight left the castle in Canterlot, Roach's stomach had finally caught up with him. He wasn't sure how long it was since he'd last eaten, but it felt like forever. As soon as Twilight boarded them on the express train back to Ponyville (in a private car, of course), she immediately took them to one of her favorite spots for food: Sugarcube Corner.

That's where they found themselves now, a table (and entire restaurant) to themselves so they could converse over a few pastries.

Roach let out a satisfied sigh, responding to the lavender unicorn. "You kidding? That was only an appetizer!" Ghost, who had gone through about three, just shook his head.

"You really make me sick just watching you sometimes, Roach." He turned his attention back to Twilight. "Don't worry about him. What you should worry about is answering a few more questions for me."

No longer afraid of the two humans, Twilight rolled her eyes. "I thought we were done with the questions."

"Not even close." Ghost rested one forearm on the table, leaning forward on it. "What were you and your little monarchy talking about?"

"Nothing!" Twilight blurted out, a little more urgently than she would have liked.

The hand Ghost had on the table raised one finger. "Strike one. I'm gonna ask you again." He leaned in a little more. "What're you hiding from us?"

"I'm telling you, it's really nothing." Twilight tried to seem cool, but she was starting to sweat.

Ghost raised another finger. "Strike two. You wanna find out what happens when I get to three?"

Twilight was openly shaking, trying to hold in the confidential information. She rubbed one shoulder nervously, glancing back and forth between the ground and Ghost. Ghost's stare never wavered, and it was starting to make Twilight very uneasy. Finally, she wiped her brow, and reassumed an erect position of authority.

But when she tried to speak, her voice cracked. She gasped, a hoof reaching her muzzle.

Ghost paused, then a third finger went up.

"That's three strikes, lil' lady." Ghost started to get up.

But Roach's hand stopped him.

"Aww, c'mon, Ghost," Roach said. "They fed us didn't they?" Ghost just stared at his comrade as he went on, this time in a serious tone. "Give it a rest. If she can't talk about it, she can't talk about it. They've got rules here, too." Ghost paused, then gently took his seat. "There. Now that we settled that," Roach tapped the stack of cupcake trays, looked toward the back of the restaurant, and yelled, "How 'bout another round?"

"Comin' riiight up!" A very uplifted voice sounded from the back, and a pink blur raced across the room, only for a pink pony to hang down from the ceiling, a full tray of cupcakes in hoof. "Here you are!" The pony said.

Roach gratefully took the tray, but Ghost was eyeing the pony uneasily, then shook his head. "I still have no bloody idea how that's possible."

"Anything's possible as long as you have fun doing it!" The pink pony replied. Ghost just waved off the comment with one hand.

"Sorry," Twilight said. "Pinkie can be a bit," Twilight paused. "Random at times.

"I can dig it," Roach said, already halfway through another pink cupcake.

"Now, if you don't mind," Twilight said. "The Princesses asked me to ask you a few questions."

"We do," Ghost said.

"We don't," Roach said.

At the same time.

They both looked at each other. Ghost shook his head, but Roach nodded. Ghost's shaking got more insistent, but so did Roach's nodding.

Ghost stood up abruptly. "She's not asking us shi-!"

"Sh!" Roach held up one finger. "Sh." He shook his hand once at Ghost. "Now sit down, and let the lady talk." Ghost didn't sit down. He paused for a moment, then slapped Roach's hand away, storming out the front door.

"Um," Twilight started. "Is he okay?"

Roach waved it off. "He'll be fine. Now what do you need to know?"

---

After Ghost stormed out of the building, he found himself in the middle of a crowded street, ponies on all sides staring at him. He realized he couldn't leave himself exposed in the middle of such an unfriendly crowd, so he quickly ducked behind the building, sitting down against the back wall. He crossed his arms, and shook his head. "Bloody hard-head," he murmured.

Now that he was alone, Ghost started really thinking. He and Roach were the only two of their kind on a world of colorful, talking ponies. Now, while this was a lot to take in before, the brunt of it finally hit him.

These ponies might actually be dangerous.

Ghost realized that if they even stepped a little bit out of line, they might be subject to some very bad consequences.

Another thing he realized was that while it would be stupid to fight back, he would go down shooting, like he'd failed to do when Shepherd had betrayed them.

But what he didn't realize was that one of the ponies from the street had followed him into the alley, and had just accidentally tapped an empty tin can with its hoof. Ghost immediately brought up his assault rifle, pointing it at the corner of the building to his left. At first glance, it was empty. But at second glance, he spotted a small, soft pink tuft of fur just barely poking out from around the corner. He held his gun steady.

"I can clearly see you," Ghost said. He heard a light squeak from around the corner. "Come out slowly."

At first, the tuft didn't move. But after a very tense moment, it disappeared, and a small, yellow head peeked around the corner. It didn't flinch at the sight of the gun, but it looked afraid to come out.

"I said come out slowly," Ghost repeated. The pony shifted out a few more inches, revealing a long, pink mane and trembling shoulders. Ghost rolled his eyes. "Do I have to come back there and get you?" The pony squeaked, and shook its trembling head. "Then come out where I can see you." The pony stepped out from behind the corner, revealing its full, shaking form. Yellow coat, pink mane, blue eyes, and three butterflies on its hip. That, and it was trembling so hard that it looked like its legs would buckle at any second. Ghost could clearly see that this pony was terrified. He held his aim for a couple more moments, then quickly lowered his weapon, letting out a long sigh. He put one hand on his forehead, not even looking at the creature. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you." He half expected the creature to run, but when he looked up again, it was still there. He held his hand slightly away from his forehead. "What?"

"U-um," the pony said. "W-what are you?"

"A human being," Ghost replied. "Anything else absolutely blowing your mind about me?" The pony didn't respond, but its shaking started to die down. "Well, if that'll be all, I suggest you just forget you ever saw me." Ghost looked away from the pony again, but still it didn't leave.

"A-are you o-okay?" It asked.

Ghost was taken completely by surprise. "What?" He asked.

The pony took a couple tentative steps toward Ghost, who didn't stop it from doing so. "A-are you okay?" It asked again.

Ghost sighed, shaking his head. "No, I'm not okay at all. And I think it's best if you didn't get mixed up in what I'm dealing with right now."

The pony took a step toward Ghost, then laid down gently, about five feet from him. "Well, it can't be that bad," the pony almost whispered.

"I'm supposedly dead, I've been teleported to this planet for unknown reasons, and my partner and I are being interrogated by a purple unicorn-"

"Twilight?" the pony asked. Ghost looked over at the yellow creature.

"Yeah," Ghost said. "You know it- er, her?"

"Well, she's one of the Elements of Harmony." The pony put a hoof to its chest. "I-I am too."

Ghost paused. "What's your name?" The pony paused. "C'mon, I won't bite. I'll tell you mine first. Name's Simon Riley. Call me Ghost."

"G-ghost?" The pony shivered.

Ghost couldn't help but grin, shaking his head. "Don't worry, it's just a nickname. And it's not for a very relevant reason. Now what's your name? You got one?"

"Y-yeah," the pony replied. "I-I'm... Fluttershy."

"What was that?" Ghost asked.

"F-Fluttershy."

"I'd like it if you didn't make me ask again."

The pony just shifted back a little, whimpering. Ghost sighed.

"Nevermind," Ghost said. "So why're you so interested in me?

"Well, um," Fluttershy paused. "I-I just couldn't leave some poor creature like you all alone behind Sugarcube Corner. I've never seen anyone leave there looking so mad. Something must be terribly wrong."

Ghost waved one hand in Fluttershy's direction. "It's nothing. Just my partner pushing me a little too far. Had to let myself cool off for a minute." He pointed one thumb toward the wall behind him. "He's in there talking to Twilight and that pink pony."

"Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy asked.

"What?" Ghost asked.

Fluttershy squeaked. "Um, s-sorry," Fluttershy said. "The pink pony? Her name's Pinkie Pie."

Ghost rolled his eyes. "Of course it is. My friend in there, in case you meet him, is Gary Sanderson. Call him Roach."

"Roach?" Fluttershy echoed. "That's not very nice."

"Yeah, well I didn't give him that name," Ghost said. "I'm not the one who can do anything about it. He doesn't seem to mind it." The two of them sat there in awkward silence for a moment. Fluttershy gently kicked a small pebble in front of her, only knocking it away about an inch. Ghost leaned his head back against the wall, his rifle still at his side. That was about the time a pigeon decided to fly over Ghost, and drop an air strike right on Ghost's helmet. Ghost tensed up, his hands immediately going to his helmet. When he pulled it away, his gloves were white. "Gah, sunnuva-!" Ghost yelled out. He almost picked up his rifle to to a little skeet shooting before Fluttershy was at his side.

"Oh, my gosh," Fluttershy said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Ghost replied, gently shaking her off, flicking his hand off to one side to remove the substance from his hand. "You got a rag or something?" He paused, then immediately spoke again. "Sorry, I forgot you don't have any pocket-" He stopped as Fluttershy held out a small, pink cloth in her hoof. "What's this?"

"Just a cloth," Fluttershy said. "You can use it if you need to."

"Is it yours?" Ghost asked. Fluttershy nodded. "You really want me to use your special rag to clean off this-" He was cut off as Fluttershy gently placed the cloth in his hand, then gently stepped back, giving him a sideways glance with a small grin on her face. But what Fluttershy didn't know was that in that moment, Ghost was having a change of heart.

Of course I was thinking like a bloody idiot, Ghost thought to himself. These things wouldn't even hurt a fly. No way they'd ever hurt us unless we went at them first. Ah, that'll never happen. Not unless we absolutely have to. I just hope Roach can hold himself together. Don't need him snapping off at someone- er... Somepony. He'd finished cleaning his helmet, but still clenched the rag in thought. Roach, please, whatever you do, don't do something stupid.

And that was when he heard the first gunshot.

---

Twilight scratched the back of her head with one hoof. "Well, um, just a few simple things. Is there anything you remember about before you got here?"

"Well, not much," Roach said, leaning back in his chair. "We were fighting a war-"

"A war?" Twilight blurted out, not intending to interrupt. "Sorry. Go on."

Roach grinned. "Yeah. A war. There's a country on our world called Russia, and some punk from that place called Makarov called out the United States, a country that our homeland was working with, out. He blew up a whole platoon of our guys, basically declaring war, and we were fighting back. When we 'died', we were sent to one of his outposts in the middle of a forest to kill him. Surprise surprise, he's not there. So, instead, we hijack some very valuable intel, that means 'intelligence', from him. After a big firefight that completely ruined the perfectly good vacation home it was hidden in, I was nearly blown sky-high by an RPG."

"RPG?" Twilight asked. She flinched, realizing that she interrupted again. Before she could apologize, Roach cut her off.

"Don't worry about apologizing," Roach said. "I can imagine there are a lot of phrases we have that you don't know. So if you hear anything, and you don't know what it means, just ask. Alright?" Twilight nodded. "Alright. So RPG stands for rocket-propelled grenade. Yeah, it's as scary as it sounds, and being hit by one should've killed me. Luckily, Ghost was there to drag my sorry self toward our evac choppers, which are big, flying, metal containers that transport people, and we were pretty happy to see our beloved General Shepherd step out of the first. And as soon as Ghost handed him the intel." He paused. "BANG!" He yelled, one hand with its fingers in the shape of a gun flying up into the air. Twilight nearly jumped out of her seat. "Shot me right in the gut. 'Course Ghost being the good guy he is, he tried to shoot Shepherd right through the head before the good general shot him too. Then, he left us to bleed, coated us in gasoline, and set our bleeding corpses on fire. Next thing I know," Roach held his hands out to his sides, "Here we are."

"Wow," Twilight said. "That's so much to take in."

"Yeah, I get ya," Roach said. "I'm still working it out myself. Still pretty ticked that I'm here, and our boys are back home with a mole on the loose, and not the cute kind that burrows around in the ground.

"Aww," Pinkie said, still hanging from the ceiling. "I bet it would be a whole lot funnier if it was a real mole."

Roach looked up at the pink pony. "There's nothing funny about it at all," Roach said. "Now don't get offended by that, I'm just saying. I never saw it coming, and I'm pretty sure Ghost didn't either." Roach put his hand up on the table, clenching his fist. "And I'd really like to put a bullet through that punk's brain right about now."

"What's a bullet?" Both of the ponies asked. Roach drew his sidearm, holding it up and examining it.

"Do you have a flower pot or something?" he asked.

"Sure!" Pinkie disappeared from the ceiling, then rushed back to the table with a pink vase in hoof.

"Good," Roach said. "Now set it on one of those far tables." Pinkie rushed over to one of the tables, and set up the vase. "Good. Now come back by your friend over here. Good. Now both of you, cover your ears." The two ponies did so. Roach immediately raised the sidearm and fired a single round through the vase. Twilight screamed, and fell out of her chair, and Pinkie just froze in place, a look of shock on her face. That was the time when Ghost burst back through the front door, Fluttershy at his side.

"Roach!" Ghost yelled. "What's gotten in your bloody head!? You could've killed one of them!" Twilight tried to ask how that was possible, but her ears were still ringing, and she still couldn't get off the floor.

Roach just twirled the pistol around once on his finger, blew across the barrel, and slid it back in his holster. "Well, Ghost, let's just say I was imagining that the vase over there was our good friend General Shepherd." Ghost stormed across the room and snatched the sidearm from Roach's hand, removing the clip onto the floor and ejecting the chambered round. "Aww, c'mon, Mom, I was just having a little fun!"

"Your 'fun' could've gotten us killed!" All three of the ponies in the room flinched as Ghost said that.

"How?" Roach asked. "They don't even know what a gun is! One of their bonehead guards almost blew us sky high and didn't even flinch! You really think a gunshot's gonna tick 'em off?"

Twilight was finally recovering from the incident, but everything still sounded muffled to her as she spoke. "Um, I don't know what just happened, but can you please not do it again?"

Roach simply held out two hands toward the downed pony as he looked Ghost straight in the eye, proving his point.

Ghost rolled his eyes as he carefully stepped over to the lavender unicorn, and knelt down. "I need you to hold still for a second." He carefully began to examine one of Twilight's ears. "I need to make sure he didn't blow out your blasted eardrums. Do your ears hurt?"

"Um, not really," Twilight said, tilting her head in discomfort. "It's just really hard to hear."

"Do you hear any ringing?" Ghost moved to the other ear.

"Yeah, a little."

"Good." Ghost let go of her ear and stood up. "Your ears are still intact." He looked back at Roach. "Which is less than what can be said for you in a few minutes." Roach just gave him an innocent shrug.

The bell above the front door dinged.

Another pony entered.

"Aw, sunnuva-" Roach said as he started to turn around, only to see a Royal Guard standing there.

"The Princesses have requested to see you, Twilight Sparkle," the guard said. He looked over at Ghost and Roach. "And the two of you as well. The train is waiting for you at the station." And with that, he left the shop in silence.

Twilight sighed. "Well, I guess we better get going, you two. Fluttershy, can you make sure Pinkie's okay?"

"U-um," Fluttershy stammered. "I guess so. But I dunno what to do for," she pointed at Pinkie. "That."

Pinkie was as motionless as a statue, frozen in the same position of shock as she was when Roach's weapon went off. Twilight sighed.

"Just, I don't know, make sure she isn't stuck like that?"

"I-I'll try," Fluttershy responded, gently gliding over to the frozen pony. She tried moving one of her legs, but it didn't budge. "C'mon, Pinkie, i-it's not funny anymore." She tried pulling on her neck. Still nothing. She was still pulling with all her might as Twilight was leading the two soldiers out of the store. Before they left, Roach took a single glance behind him at the two remaining ponies. He sighed, picked up the discarded magazine from his weapon, and shook his head as he left.

"I'm not even gonna ask what drugs that pony's on."

Chapter 5: We Want Answers

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"If I have to ride that train one more time, I ain't gonna be happy."

After another very long train ride from Ponyville to Canterlot, Ghost was starting to become very irritated with constantly being dragged around from place to place. Twilight tried to cheer him up a bit as they headed for the royal castle.

"I'm hoping this is the last one until we can find you a place to stay," Twilight replied. "Oh, and, um." She paused.

"Aaaand?" Roach asked.

"Could you," she cast them a sideways glance as they walked, "Try to cooperate with the Princesses? I still don't know what's going on, but I think it's something really bad. It has to be for her to be so urgent in meeting-"

"Two random aliens from another planet?" Roach interrupted.

"Well," Twilight shrugged, "Yeah."

"I think we can handle that." Roach nudged Ghost in the arm. "Can't we, Ghost?" He didn't respond. "Aww, c'mon. They gave us back our weapons, didn't they?"

"Only until we get back to the castle," Twilight added. "They're going to need to take them again when we do." Ghost grunted, and Roach just shrugged.

"How about this?" Roach continued. "When we get there, I'll do all the talking. You just sit tight and be good while I handle it. Sound good?"

"Roach," Ghost started, "If there's anything I don't trust you to do, it's negotiate with the king and queen-"

"Princesses," Twilight corrected.

"Of some strange planet, and keep us out of trouble while you do it. I'm not even sure if we're gonna be talking at all, and if we are, it'll be me talking. Keep your trap shut, and hopefully no one'll get hurt. You read me?" Before anyone had time to take another step, Roach was right in front of Ghost, holding him where he was with a hand on Ghost's shoulder. "What are you-"

"Stop." Roach cut him off. "Before we do this, I need to get something straight. We're dead, Ghost. There's no more chain of command, and you're not my superior anymore. We're in this together, and we're getting out of this together. You read me?"

This was the first time Ghost didn't slap Roach's hand away. Instead, he paused, then said, "Loud and clear."

Roach patted him on the shoulder, then stepped to the side so Twilight could take the lead. She wished she had something she could add, so she didn't feel like she was pushed to the sidelines, so she just kept walking as the two soldiers followed. After a few more minutes of silence, she decided to break the ice.

"So are you guys brothers or something?" Both of the soldiers stopped dead.

"What?" They both said at the same time.

Twilight turned to face them, and tilted her head. "Did I say something bad?"

Ghost started to speak, but Roach spoke first. "In a way, yeah." Ghost turned to look at him, but didn't say anything. "Brothers in arms, as we called it back home." Roach turned his body to show Twilight his shoulder. On it was the S.A.S. patch. "See this patch? It stands for the Special Air Service, the branch of military Ghost and I are from. Anyone wearing this patch is our brother on the battlefield." He sighed, turning his arm away. "Haven't really thought about all our brothers and sisters who're still alive. Or what they told our families-"

Ghost cut him off with a hand to the chest. "Alright, Roach, that's enough. We're dead, and that's that." This time, he went right past Twilight, up the street, and went left around the corner.

"Um, the castle is the other way!" Twilight called after him. Ghost reappeared from around the corner, crossed the street, and disappeared again.

"We should get after him," Roach said, "Before someone gets in his way."

Twilight sighed. "The Princesses are gonna have a hay-day with you two." With Twilight in the lead, they went after Ghost and headed for the castle.

---

There was a knock on the door of Princess Celestia's study.

"Please come in," the Princess answered.

As she did, the door opened, and Twilight stepped in first. She was shortly followed by the two soldiers, one with his guard, but not his weapon, up.

"I brought them as you asked, Princess." Twilight bowed her head. Then, she looked up and scanned the room, only to find that there was something, or somepony, missing. "Where's Princess Luna?"

"I asked for her to leave us to speak alone, Twilight," the Princess replied. "As I am asking you to do the same."

"Huh?" Twilight tilted her head.

"I would like to speak to these two alone. There is much we need to discuss that I don't want anypony else to hear yet. It's," Princess Celestia paused. "Personal."

"Personal?" Twilight echoed. The Princess nodded. Reluctantly, but without argument, Twilight exited the study, closing the door behind her. "Make yourselves comfortable, you two."

"I'm fine where I am." Ghost crossed his arms. Roach just shrugged and walked over to a bookcase, leaning on the frame with one elbow.

"Fair enough." Princess Celestia nodded.

Ghost spoke up again. "So what's the reason behind you pulling us aside?"

"As I told Twilight, I needed to speak with you in a place where no pony would eavesdrop. You two've been causing quite a stir in Ponyville, and word has been spreading of your arrival."

"I'm sure we're bloody famous by now," Ghost went on. "But I'm sure you didn't need us alone to tell us we're causing problems. What's the big idea here?"

Princess Celestia sighed. "I'm afraid I haven't told you the whole-"

"You're hiding something from us," Roach said. "Not too thrilled about that. Care to enlighten us?"

"I will," Princess Celestia assured them, "Just as long as you swear what's been said here won't leave this room."

"Can't promise that," Roach said. Princess Celestia shot him a slightly surprised look. Roach just shrugged.

"Then I'll be careful with what I say. I'll start from the beginning." The Princess cleared her throat, placing a hoof against it. "My name is-"

"Princess Sun Dial," Roach finished. "We know."

"Celestia," Ghost corrected him.

"I was close."

"Anyways," Princess Celestia cut in, "Yes, my name is Princess Celestia. My sister, Princess Luna, would usually be here, but I've asked her to let me speak to you alone."

"So you're lying to your sister too?" Roach asked.

Princess Celestia looked down at the floor. "Well, yes. But it's for the greater good."

"I'll be the judge of that," Ghost said. "Now before you get into the whole thing about what you've swept under the rug, I'd like to get a few things out in the open."

"Aww, c'mon, Ghost," Roach leaned off the bookcase. "You've done nothing but ask questions ever since we got here. Let the lady talk."

"I'll let her talk," Ghost said, "Just as soon as I get some good answers." He looked back to the Princess. "Now,

Princess Celestia was a little phased, but she shook her head and straightened up. "I don't think I'd mind answering a few questions."

"Glad to hear it," Ghost said. "When we first got here, your purple friend told us we were a 'threat to national security', but instead of locking us up, you took us out to lunch. Why?"

"Well," Princess Celestia started, "That's part of the reason I brought you here. Part of what I've been hiding is that you're not a threat at all. We have strange creatures showing up in Equestria all the time without raising the alarm. I hope this doesn't sound offensive, but you two aren't much of a threat compared to what we've had."

"You'd be surprised, sister," Roach murmured to himself.

"Alright," Ghost tilted his head forward slightly. "So why let two strange, if not dangerous, creatures walk around with weapons and all?"

"I needed to stall for time," Princess Celestia replied. "I didn't want to raise your suspicion, and I was sure you wouldn't hurt anypony."

"Yeah?" Ghost asked. "How do you know that?"

Princess Celestia's eyes met Ghost's. "Because if you wanted to hurt anypony, Twilight wouldn't be around, now would she?"

"So you put her in harm's way on a hunch?" Roach asked.

"Twilight was never in any danger," Princess Celestia reassured him. "She knows how to handle herself. I was even told that you saved her life. Why would she be in any danger?"

"Good point," Ghost said. "I'll give you that one. So what were you stalling for?"

Princess Celestia's eyes moved back and forth between the two soldiers. "That was for me. I needed some time to plan out what I was going to say to you two, and how I'd say it."

"Say what?" Ghost asked.

"I'll get around to that," Princess Celestia said. "Anything else?"

"I got something," Roach said. "How come everyone around here has weird tattoos?"

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Tattoos?"

Ghost rolled his eyes, both at Roach and the Princess. "Yours is a sun, for example?"

"Oh!" Princess Celestia perked up. "You mean Cutie Marks."

Roach chuckled, and Ghost face palmed. Again.

Princess Celestia paused, then went on. "Cutie Marks represent a special characteristic or talent of a pony. When they discover what that is, the mark appears to show it. It's a big milestone in a pony's life. In fact, I gave Twilight her's myself."

"I wish I had one of those," Roach said, nothing but humor in his voice.

"I could help you get one, if you like," Princess Celestia offered. That sent Roach into a fit of laughter.

"You're hilarious, you know that!?" Roach said through his laughing.

"I, um," Princess Celestia paused. "I'm sorry?"

Ghost didn't say another word until Roach stopped laughing and stood up, collecting himself.

"Alright," Roach pretended to rub a tear from his eye. "I think I got that out of my system."

"I'm glad to hear it," Princess Celestia said. "Any more questions?"

Ghost looked at Roach, who shook his head. "That's all. Pleasure doing business with you." Ghost turned and headed for the door, but Princess Celestia stopped him.

"Wait!" she yelled, holding out a hoof. Ghost immediately stopped, looking back at the Princess, one hand on the doorknob. "I'm afraid there is something I need to tell you two that you may not like to hear."

"Princess," Ghost started, not letting go of the knob. "There's been a lot of things I didn't want to hear that I have already. There's nothing you can tell me that'll make it worse." Ghost opened the door.

"I wish that were true," Princess Celestia replied. "Because I'm afraid I'm the one who brought you to Equis."

Chapter 6: Everything In My Power

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Ghost had almost killed Princess Celestia in that moment.

He froze, and Roach swore he heard something snap in his mind.

Ghost's grip tightened around the doorknob, and his knuckles turned white under his glove.

"I know this is a little overwhelming for you to hear," Princess Celestia went on cautiously, "But I'm afraid it's the truth. Although, I had no desire to, it's my fault. I was informed by my, um," she paused, " 'Acquaintance', Discord, that something bad was stirring in Equestria, and it wasn't him this time. He said he could help me, but only if I agreed not to stop him. Reluctantly, I did. After that, he vanished, and I haven't seen him since. He may have brought you here, but I was the one who requested it. I'm truly, truly sorr-" Princess Celestia was cut off as Ghost drew a pistol out of seemingly nowhere, and pointed it straight at her.

"Shut it," Ghost said in a firm tone. "I don't care why you carted us off from our home, from our families. The one thing I care about is whether or not you're gonna send us back." His grip tightened, his finger brushing the trigger. "Just make sure I like your answer."

Princess Celestia was unfazed. "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't bring weapons in here."

"Safety precautions," Ghost said flatly. "Just in case I started feeling an itch on my trigger finger. Now I'd get to work on fixing this before I decide to scratch it."

Princess Celestia didn't move, but she did take action. Ghost didn't even notice the yellow aura forming around her horn, as well as an identical one around his gun. Before he could react, his gun was flung away, crashing against the wall. Ghost was unarmed.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Princess Celestia said, "But I'll be as defensive as I see fit." Ghost clenched his fist, and let out a yell as he charged the Princess, poised to strike her. Princess Celestia prepared to react, but Ghost was flung to the side, not by her doing. Roach had tackled his partner, stopping him from even getting close to the Princess. Ghost writhed underneath him, but Roach had him pinned by the wrists.

"Let me go, Roach!" He struggled against the weight of the other soldier, completely helpless.

"I'm sorry, Ghost," Roach said.

"You're gonna be, after man-handling me like that!" Ghost yelled. "Now let me go!"

"No, not for that. For this." Roach swiftly raised a fist, striking it across Ghosts head. It caught him right in the cheek, and he was knocked unconscious immediately, and lay still beneath Roach, who was breathing heavily. He stood up, and looked a shocked Princess Celestia in the eye. "Can you have your friends take him to the infirmary?"

Princess Celestia took a breath, and looked at the door, a little bit of shakiness still in her voice. "Guards!" She yelled. Two guards immediately came in, bursting through the door and immediately at the ready with their spears. Princess Celestia looked over to the unconscious solder, and said, "Take him somewhere he can rest. And restrain him. He's not going to be happy when he wakes up."

"Are you alright, Princess?" One of the guards asked.

"I'm perfectly fine," she replied. "Just take him."

"What about the other one?"

"Let him stay. We are still discussing."

"Yes, your highness!"

One of the guards lifted Ghost onto his back, carrying him out of the room, and the other guard closed the door behind him. Roach sighed, then slowly went to retrieve Ghost's pistol, sliding it into his own holster. "I guess he forgot," Roach said.

"Forgot what?" The Princess asked.

"That we can't go back." He leaned against the wall by the door, where Ghost had been standing before. "Even if we could, we're dead there. How do we know we'll still be alive if we do go back?"

"Unfortunately, I can't help you with that," Princess Celestia said, laying back down on the floor. "But I know Discord can. He brought you here, and he can tell you about getting back. But if Equestria is in immediate danger, I'm afraid I can't allow it until it's contained."

"So you're keeping us here to fight some unknown force that an army of ponies with magic can't fight, but you expect two men with basic military load outs to handle it on their own?"

"Not exactly," the Princess went on. "I expect them both working together to fight it. You're here for a reason, and your partner needs to accept that."

"And he needs to accept the fact that back on our world, we're dead." Roach sighed. "You don't understand, Princess. Back on our world, we were fighting a war too. He's got a lot on his mind, and I imagine he really wants to start taking his anger out on a few bad guys."

"Well, I don't know where to find any," the Princess replied. "But we'll just have to find the one who does."

---

In Canterlot's dungeon...

Ghost was just regaining consciousness as he realized he'd been locked up.

He sat up on his bunk.

"Ugh," Ghost groaned. "I hate hangovers." He reached up to rub his temple, only to find that his helmet was on. As soon as his hand touched the bulletproof Kevlar, he sighed, remembering where he was.

Then his anger flared as he remembered why he was there.

He flung himself against the door, shaking it and banging on the bars with his fist.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Let me out of here!" He kept banging, and when no one answered, he yelled, "If someone doesn't open this bloody door I'll kill every one of you when I get out!" He hit the door one last time. "Hey! Hey!" He stood there for a moment, grasping the door, fuming. When there was still no answer, he sighed, and let go of the door, sitting back down on the bunk. "How'd I get myself into this mess?" He murmured. Sarcastically, he slapped his palm against his forehead like he'd figured something out. "Oh, that's right, I snapped off on a blasted Princess! Guess it's not the first time I disagreed with royalty."

From seemingly nowhere, something snickered.

Ghost looked up. It came again. "Who's there?" The snicker turned into a chuckle. Ghost stood up. "Show yourself!" he demanded.

"My, my," the voice said. "Aren't we just a bundle of sunshine this evening?"

"There ain't gonna be a lot of sunshine when I punch your lights out," Ghost retorted. "Now show yourself!"

"Why, I'm right behind you, dear friend."

Ghost flung himself around, only to see a mirror on the opposite wall. But in the mirror was a reflection of something that immediately screamed dragon, only... Not quite.

The figure chuckled, and swirled its reflected body around the edge of the mirror. "Oh, dear, it looks like you're in a bit of a pickle, hm?"

Ghost shook his head, placing a hand against it and leaning against the wall. "I think I'm losing it."

The figure raised a claw. "Quite the opposite, my friend. You're opening your eyes for the first time."

Ghost dropped his hand. "Yeah? And who might you be, mirror mirror on the wall?"

"Oh, that doesn't matter," the creature said. "What matter is-" the mirror shattered, and the shards fell to the floor. But in every single shard was a mirrored version of the creature's reflection. He pointed right at Ghost. "Who are you?"

Ghost sighed, sliding down to the floor, resting his wrists on his knees. "Me? I'm a man stuck where he doesn't belong." He twitched one hand at the glass shards. "Now you mind telling me what you're doing in my cell?"

"Hmm," the creature rubbed his chin. "How about you riddle me this: Why is it that I'm using some of my oldest tricks in the book, and you don't so much as flinch?"

"Well, as of today I've seen a lot of crazy shi-" The creature started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You think you've seen crazy?" The creature laughed again. "My dear friend, you haven't even begun to see crazy!"

"Yeah?" Ghost taunted the creature. "Try me."

"What if I told you I was the famous, and infamous, Draconequus himself," the creature placed a hand against its chest, "the great and powerful Discord!" Somehow, fireworks went off outside the window. But the only fireworks Ghost knew about were the ones in his head. He immediately stood up.

"You're the one that got me in this mess in the first place!"

"Indeed I am."

"Then get me out of it!"

"Whoa there," Discord sarcastically tried to calm Ghost down. "Take it easy there, cowboy. All in good time. But before I can do that, I'll need a little favor from you."

"I ain't doing anything for you!" Ghost's voice dropped to a tone of seething anger, and he talked through clenched teeth. "I want you to take me to Roach, and send us back to Earth!"

"As I said," Discord disappeared from the shards of glass, which immediately flew back up into the mirror frame, coming together as though it were never broken. Then, he appeared outside Ghost's window. He curled one finger at Ghost, beckoning him to come. "I'm going to take you somewhere not far from here. There's someone that's been dying to meet you. Do this, and I'll gladly buy your tickets home myself." Discord reached into what seemed to be a pocket in his skin. "I'm sure I've got some leftover bits here somewhere." He pulled out a small velvet coin purse, clicked it open, and tipped it over. After a short delay, an entire pile of golden coins fell out at once into a large pile, flooding around Ghost's feet and out of the cell. With barely a reaction to what happened, Ghost sighed.

"Alright, I'll come meet your little friend. But I better be home in time for dinner."

Discord chuckled, motioning one hand toward the horizon outside the window. A red carpet unfurled from seemingly nowhere and rolled away as far as the eye could see. "Right this way, my friend. She's expecting you."

---

After about an hour of Ghost being kept locked up, Roach decided to head down to make sure his friend had cooled off. Princess Celestia requested to come with him to check in on his condition, and to tell him everything that she had told Roach.

"I know I've said this a couple times already," Roach started as they made their way down the stairs to the cells, "but I'm really sorry about my hothead of a partner."

"I can understand his anger," Princess Celestia replied. "He's lost and confused. I'd be very well near what he is now if I was suddenly taken from my home, and I have been in time's past." They reached the bottom of the stairs. Ghost's cell was just around the corner.

"You and me both, sister." Princess Celestia cast a curious glance at Roach. "When I went off to war, I left my home and my family behind. So did Ghost. He's been a little unstable ever since, but he's kept a lid on it until now." They turned the corner. "And it's a shame about his daughter-" Roach stopped dead, and so did Princess Celestia.

They spotted the pile of gold spilling out from Ghost's cell.

"Ah, crap," Roach said as he ran for the cell, and started banging on the bars. "Ghost! Ghost, answer me! What is all this!" Princess Celestia trotted up next to him, and threw open the door with her magic. Roach immediately ran inside, sifting through the coins. His partner was nowhere underneath.

Roach slammed his fist into the pile. "Son of a-!" He looked up at the window.

Or what used to be a window.

All that was left now was a hole in the wall in the exact shape of a man, and a red carpet rolled up neatly next to it. Roach's head was spinning, but Princess Celestia knew exactly what happened. Her eyebrows angled down in anger as she stamped her hoof.

"Discord."

"What?" Roach looked back at the Princess."

"Discord's the one who brought you two here. He was the one who said that you two were necessary for the survival of Equestria." She huffed, placing one hoof against her muzzle. "I should've known he'd tricked me again." Roach rose to his feet, and began to squeeze his way through the hole in the wall. "What are you doing?" The Princess asked.

"I'm going after him," Roach said. "I don't care how fluffy and innocent this world looks, he could get himself killed all on his own. I need to find him before that happens." Roach stopped dead as he ran into a glowing, yellow wall in front of him. "Ow!" he yelled, pressing a hand against his nose. "What's that all about!?"

"I can't let you go alone," Princess Celestia said. "We need to wait and think about what we're doing."

"Look," Roach started in a somewhat hostile tone, "I know we're supposed to be working together, but that's not just my partner out there. That's my friend. And I'm not leaving him behind. You can gather your forces here for as long as you want." He took his rifle from off of his shoulder. "But I'm going after him, and I'm not waiting."

"It's too dangerous!" The Princess tried to warn him again.

"If your sister was kidnapped by some big and scary creature and taken to some unknown place, would you care if it was dangerous?" Princess Celestia remained silent, simply bowing her head. The glow around her horn faded, and so did the wall in front of Roach. Without another word from the Princess, he turned in pursuit of his friend.

"Be wary," Princess Celestia said, too quiet for Roach to hear. "Discord's not the danger I'm worried about."

Chapter 7: Hail To The Queen

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"This is the dumbest thing you've ever done, Roach. You should've let me go, Roach. This was none of your business, Roach."

Roach was reciting all the sarcastic things he knew Ghost would say if Roach ever found him. He was by himself, deep in the Everfree forest. He was fully armed with everything he'd had on him when he'd first woken up in this world. But it was getting dark, and fast. Roach had taken on Timber Wolves before, but he was worried about finding anything worse than that. In order to distract himself, he let all the annoying things Ghost would say run though his mind. That only pushed him on so he could find Ghost and knock some sense into him.

"If you hadn't taken things into your own hands in the first place, I wouldn't have come all the way out here to drag you back."

He sighed to himself, his back beginning to slouch. He was tired and alone, and darkness was closing in quickly. He decided he needed to find somewhere to camp out for the night, then set out again at dawn. In the distance, in a gap between two trees, he spotted a small, rocky outcrop. Hopefully, there would be a cave or rock slide that he could use for cover. Grabbing a small utility flashlight from his belt, he clicked it on, shining it through the trees at the rocks. Just barely on the edge of what he could see of the rock, he saw the outcrop curve into itself. A cave.

He smiled under his mask, more out of fear than satisfaction.

Taking each step carefully, he made his way toward the rocky outcrop. Twigs and leaves crunched under his boots, and he kept looking over his shoulder to make sure that he wasn't attracting any unwanted travelers. When he finally reached the opening into the cave, the sun had finally set, and a full moon shined down on the landscape, illuminating the rocks and the ground around it. Shining his light inside, he saw that there was nothing but darkness leading downward into the ground. He nearly wanted to turn back, to find somewhere else to camp out, but he'd run out of time. Just to make sure it was safe, he tapped his flashlight against the rock. The clang of metal against stone echoed into the cave. He waited for anything to jump out at him, but nothing came. Too tired to look further, he assumed it was safe.

Using his combat knife to cut a few branches off of nearby trees, he used the leafy foliage to mostly cover the entrance by jamming them into cracks in the rocks. Then, once safely inside, he turned of his flashlight, sheathed his knife, and sat down with his back to the rock. He sighed, leaning his head back. After a few moments, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small silver flask. At least, it looked like a flask. It was actually his old flask converted into a locket. If he pressed the opening at the top, it clicked open to show two pictures inside. On one side, there was his wife and seven-year-old daughter, posing together by a tree in their park. Roach had taken that picture. On the other side, it was Roach and Ghost standing together when they were first recruited. Roach was on the left in his recruit gear, with simple military drab and a helmet. Ghost looked a little more commanding, with his ghost mask and sunglasses, but his usual ear covers were gone. They each had an arm over the other's shoulder. They were the best of friends then, and they still were now.

Ever since they met, Ghost and Roach had a sort of bond. They were different in many ways, but somehow, opposites attracted. Roach and Ghost balanced each other out off the battlefield. But when the heat was on, they helped each other keep a cool head and get the job done. Even though their personalities were different, their intentions were the same. Fight down to their last drop of blood, for their families, for their brothers and sisters in arms, for their country.

For each other.

Roach kept that flask with him as a reminder of why he gave up alcohol. He used to drink when he was just starting out with his wife, and they'd nearly split up because of it. But after the birth of his daughter, he tried to quit, cold turkey. But he couldn't do it on his own, so before he went off into the army, he had the flask made into a locket. The picture of his family was a reminder of his duty as a father. The picture of him with Ghost was a reminder of his duty as a soldier. After they were put together, he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol since. Roach remembered sitting with Ghost in a bar the day he stopped drinking. He was about to down a shot of whiskey when Ghost stopped him.

"You better enjoy that while you can. You won't be wettin' your whistle when you're on duty."

"I'll remember that, Simon," Roach said. He began to raise the glass again when Ghost began talking again.

"I remember what my commanding officer told me when we first got here. You weren't there for this, but he sat me down and set a shot in front of me. He said, 'Right there in that glass is the last drop of America's finest that you'll ever touch again, you get me?' At first, I didn't understand. But ever since he said that I haven't drank since. If I let the thought of my next drink hang in my mind, I can't think about my family. I can't think about my next move to make sure I stay alive. Keeps me clear headed."

"I don't think a little drink once in a while will kill me," he said. Just as Roach was tipping his head back to drink, Ghost punched him in the arm. A little bit of the whiskey spilled out over the edge of the glass and onto the bar. Roach turned and glared at him but before he could say anything, Ghost went on.

"If that was a sniper round, you would've lost an arm. If you're out on the battlefield, and you lose focus, even for a second, you die. One minute, whiskey's running through your mind. The next, it's a bullet. What I think might not matter much to you, but think about your family, Gary. Your wife and your daughter. What would happen to them if you didn't come home?" When Roach didn't answer, he said, "I'm gonna tell you the same thing that officer told me. Enjoy that while you got it, 'cause I'm not gonna let you get yourself killed because you were too busy thinking about coming back to this bar stool."

Roach stared at the the glass in his hand, then emptied it as he tossed the liquid over his shoulder and onto the floor. He set the glass down, and as Ghost patted him on the back, every last thought of drinking left his mind. He struggled for a while, but he remembered every word Ghost said to him then and there, and it kept him sober ever since.

That was why he went after Ghost. They needed each other. Even if Ghost wouldn't admit it.

He ran his fingers over the pictures, memories flashing through his mind. His daughter's birthday parties. The anniversary of him and his wife. The first time Ghost and Roach met, and decided to take a jeep for a joyride outside base camp. It was supposed to be frowned upon, but the unit understood that even in wartime, it doesn't hurt to remember that you're still a human being.

Ghost and Roach hadn't seen much of each other until only recently, with a string of missions involving Makarov pushing them together again. It was a happy reunion, even though they didn't show it. All the way up until Shepherd killed them right in front of each other. Ghost was never really a hothead, but when it came to their commanding officer betraying them, and stealing them away from their families, only for them to end up on a world they're almost sure doesn't exist and have that knowledge hanging over their head, his fuse was short for a good reason.

He clicked the locket closed, and slid it back into his vest.

"I'm coming for you, Ghost. Just hang on."

But then, Roach's Kevlar helmet did nothing to lessen the blow against the side of his head, and he fell over unconscious.

---

Roach drifted in and out of consciousness. Drifted in and out, in and out...

He caught small glimpses of scenery, all of them upside down. The floor of the cave. Moonlight fading away on the stone. Darkness. Green light pouring across the stone. Large green crystals protruding from the walls. The sound of himself being dragged across stone the entire way. His vision faded one last time, and when he returned to consciousness, he was hanging upside down. The walls around him were covered in the green crystals, giving the cavern light. He could tell he was underground. The air was thinner and felt cold and damp. He could see his arms hanging down toward the floor. His gaze drifted from the floor to the area in front of him. A tunnel was dug out of the wall, leading off into complete darkness. Roach guessed that this was where he was dragged from. He looked down (or up, as it was) at his feet. They were anchored into the rock ceiling by some sort of green goo. They strangely matched the color of the crystals around him, and he wasn't sure if the goo or the crystals were turning it green.

He tried to yank his foot free, but they didn't budge. He shook and pulled, but he was slowly losing consciousness as all of his blood was rushing back to his head. He felt sick, but didn't have the strength to pull down his mask in case he couldn't hold it. He just sighed and let himself relax again, closing his eyes and waiting for the sickness to go away.

He heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. Or hoofsteps, as it were.

Roach looked up. In the darkness leading away from the tunnel, he saw two glowing green lights. As the hoofsteps got closer, he began to make out a pair of eyes in the darkness. But before the shape appeared in the light, it stopped, silhouetted in the darkness.

Roach waited. He didn't have the strength to talk.

Until he remembered Ghost.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Who are you? Where am I?" The figured only giggled, its voice soothing and sinister at the same time. "Hey!" He curled his arms in toward his body, his fists clenched. "Answer me!"

"My my," the figure said, still standing in the shadows. "You were much more tolerable when you were unconscious."

"How 'bout you come over here so I can show you what it's like?" he threatened. He saw something glow just above the creature's eyes, and suddenly he was struck by a rock. His body swung from side to side for a moment, and he began to lose consciousness again. When the figure spoke again, its voice was distant.

"You are not in control here," the creature's voice became a little more threatening. "You were trespassing in my home. What have you to say for yourself?"

"Sorry I didn't take my shoes off first," Roach replied.

The figure snorted in annoyance. "Pitiful creature." The eyes disappeared into the darkness, but the voice came one more time. "It seems your kind is all the same."

Roach's heart jumped, or fell, into his throat. "Hey!" He yelled. "What's that supposed to mean? What'd you do with Ghost!?"

Only one of the eyes returned in the shadows, as if the figure was casting Roach a sideways glance on its way out. "Ghost." The creature seemed to almost be tasting the word. "Is that its name?"

"He is my partner. Now where is he?"

"Partner?" The figure giggled again. "That would explain why there are only two of you. Did I interrupt your repopulation?"

"If you ever say something like that again, I'll kill you a lot slower than I've already been planning to."

The eyes in the shadows turned toward Roach again, and the light above them flared up again. But this time, no rock came. Instead, Roach felt his feet break free of the goo, and he fell to the floor. His head and back collided, and he grunted as he landed. Dazed, he began to pull himself back to his feet as the figure went on. "Normally, I would punish you for speaking to me in such a manner. But unfortunately, I am not allowed to harm you." The figures eyes began to shift away again. "You are allowed to remain free, for now. Step out of line and you will be hung back up, and we won't be so lenient with the restraints. Attempt to escape, and you will be cocooned."

"What?" Roach didn't like the sound of the word "cocooned". "How 'bout you step out here where I can see you?"

"As stubborn as you are persistent," the figure said. "Very well. If you have no regard for yourself, how much do you have for your 'partner'?"

"If you so much as scratch the paint on his helmet, so help me."

The figure laughed. "I have an army at my disposal, but I can easily handle you myself. Are you sure you are in a good position to threaten me?"

"And would that 'army' happen to be this Dysfunction guy?" Roach asked.

Roach couldn't see it, but the figure raised an eyebrow.

"Wait a sec," Roach paused, cursing himself. "Dyslexia?" Still no answer. "Disposal? Disassemble?"

"Discord," the figure stated simply.

Roach snapped his fingers. "That's the one! So is Discord the army you're talking about?"

The figure laughed again. "Discord is a brash fool who is only looking for a childish way to entertain himself. He is no army, and he is certainly the least of your concerns. No, my army is much bigger. A vast swarm of my children poised to perform my every whim."

"So you call yourself a Queen 'cause your boyfriend didn't know how to put some rubber on?" The figure paused, attempting to decipher what Roach just said. "Must've been awful, being fat for so long. I can only imagine how you coped."

"I've no idea what you're talking about," the figure responded, "but my children were conceived by me and only me. They were born in a hive and hatched by the dozens. They tower above the weak creatures you call children."

"I've got one of my own," Roach said. "A daughter. Looks like she'll have a father that loves her a whole lot more than yours loved you."

"Love means nothing to me." Roach was beginning to irritate the figure. "Love is food for me and my children. Family means nothing to me. And if you're so intent on bragging about your precious child, do you think she'll miss her dear father?"

"If you say one more word about my daughter," Roach said. "I'll cut out a lot more than that silver tongue of yours."

"Is that so?" the figure asked. "Then I will make sure to take an equal number of pieces from your friend."

Roach had enough.

He reached down for the gun in his holster, and found that it was still there. He pulled it from his waist, and aimed straight between the two glowing eyes. But before he could pull the trigger, he was thrust of his feet, and ejected toward the wall of the cave. He slammed against one of the crystals, his pistol falling from his hand. He wasn't sure if the crack he heard was the crystal or his back. A green aura surrounded his sidearm, and it was pulled away into the darkness.

"You are like an undisciplined child," the figure said. "Always fussing when asked to play nice."

"I get that way when someone takes away my toys," Roach said through gritted teeth.

"As do I," the figure said. "In fact, my children are having a wonderful time sharing theirs with your friend."

Roach cursed at the figure.

"Now now," the figure said, stepping a little more into the light. Roach made out the edge of a black face, blue hair hanging down a long neck, and a fang hanging over the lip at the end of a long muzzle. "Is that any way to talk to your Queen?"

Chapter 8: I Should Kill You. Slowly.

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"Alright, I'm gonna give you guys three seconds to give me back my mask."

Ghost lunged for his signature ghost mask, which was being tossed about between three Changelings. The three were left by the Queen to keep an eye on Ghost, but they ended up messing with him instead. They were floating a couple inches above his head and out to his sides, and were now playing catch with Ghost's mask. After several failed lunges, he finally managed to reach up and grab his mask from them. The three just laughed at him as he slid it back on. Then, laughing, the three floated up into the dark abyss that lead almost endlessly up above Ghost's head, leaving him alone once again. He was starting to get frustrated.

"I hope Roach shot that bloody Queen the moment he saw her," Ghost mumbled to himself. "Roach, you better come get me soon. I'm gonna go insane down here." He sat down on the ground, leaning against one of the crystals in the wall, resting his head against it. "And if that Celestia doesn't show her face around here soon at least, I'm gonna put one in both your knees." The room fell silent as Ghost stopped talking. In fact, it fell so silent that it was almost maddening to Ghost. After a while, he had begun to stand up and pace around. Then, he counted each step. Then each breath. Then each second he felt he would slip into madness. The exit was just footsteps away from him, but he knew he'd be killed almost instantly if he tried to leave, or so the Queen said. He didn't care as long as he was out of that room, but he had to stay alive. For Roach.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, something appealed to Ghost. If that Queen really wanted to kill Ghost, she would've done it by now. No, she wanted him alive. Which he hoped meant that she was bluffing when she told him leaving would mean instant death. Deciding to risk it all, he stepped up to the exit of the cave. He stood there for a few moments, weighing his options. Walk into the tunnel and either die instantly, releasing him from that darkness forever, or live, and either miraculously find Roach or get lost in those tunnels where he'd either wait until he was found or die. Not a moment after figuring all this out, Ghost decided that anything was better than sticking around in that room any longer. He took a deep breath, and stepped out into the tunnel.

He was just inside the darkness, and everything in front of him was black. He'd left the room, and entered the cavern. Nothing happened. He took another step. Still nothing. Finally, he began a slow walk down the tunnel, and nothing stopped him along the way. He held out a single hand and touched the cold wall, feeling his way down the tunnel. He had no idea where he was going, but the tunnel had to lead somewhere. So he kept walking.

---

"Look, I don't know who you are, but if you're trying to scare me, then you need to take a few more acting classes."

Roach was barely phased by the pony standing half-shrouded in darkness only a few yards in front of him. She was clearly not amused by his comments.

"How about this, okay?" Roach went on, "You tell me where my partner is, give us our guns back, and we'll leave without hurting anyone. Sound good." The pony only began a low laugh.

"What a pathetic little creature you are," it said. "Resorting to meaningless negotiation when cornered."

"Good one," Roach replied. "You just gonna insult me all day, or are you at least gonna give me a reason for why I'm here? Oh, I've got an idea! How about you tell me where you've locked up my partner?"

"Oh, I can assure you," the pony said, "Your partner is far from 'locked up'. But my Changelings have a close eye on him. He is not going anywhere if he is smart."

"If that's the case," Roach pretended to check a watch on his wrist, "Then he should be here any second now. He's not one to sit still if he can help it. But I'm just gonna quickly change the subject and ask again, why do you want someone like me so bad?"

"Oh, well," the pony said, "I may as well humor you if you are going to be a guest with us." The pony took a few steps further into the light, revealing herself only a little more. "It is very simple, really. You are very skilled and powerful soldiers where you are from, I'm aware. Imagine if every one of my Changelings was a copy of you or your partner. My army would be a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, they cannot be whatever they wish at any time. They need an original, a model. So with a little help, I brought you here. Now you and your partner are going to help me retake Equestria." The pony began a maniacal laugh, but soon died down as she heard Roach laughing almost as much. "And what are you laughing at?"

"That is the single worst plan I've ever heard!" Roach replied. "Do you really think if we were good enough soldiers to make into an army, we would've let our own commander kill us in the first place? We ain't here because we just magically teleported. Back in our world, we're dead. You got two quite literally deadbeat soldiers to fight for you, and now you want two thousand of them or something like that?" Roach started to laugh so hard that he was bent over, supporting himself on his knees. Then, he looked up and pointed at the pony. "You're even dumber than I thought you were!" Quite suddenly, Roach was thrown off his feet and slammed against the back wall. He grunted in pain, and started to cough a couple times as the pony approached.

"You need to be taught when to keep your mouth shut," the pony warned. "Or do I need to shut it for you?"

"Sorry, Mom," Roach replied, "I'm just not feeling very obedient today. Just kinda born with it, y'know?"

"If it were my choice, I would silence you permanently," the pony said.

"Wait, what's that?" Roach held a hand to his ear. "It's not your choice? Ohohoh, the Queen's answering to someone else, huh? I thought you were in control of an empire, but you're no more than a pawn yourself." The pony didn't respond. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Too sad to admit you're not the one in control? How's it feel, huh? Answering to someone else?" Roach started to slowly stand up. "It's rich, isn't it? We blindly follow orders, but we don't even ask who they're coming from. That's what got me and my partner killed. So let that be a warning to you. Don't get yourself killed following someone else." Roach's tone switched from challenging to casual. "I was in the same position you were. A thousand men at my back, and I was still cut down by one man. Killed all the others, too. And I just walked right up to him and gave him exactly what he wanted before he did. Oh, that's right. You're surrounded by your 'children'. Ain't no way anyone's gonna mess with you or them. Well, news flash, honey. Because of that man, I'm never gonna see my kids again. So go ahead, clone us or do whatever you're gonna do. You're not gonna have an army. You're just gonna have thousands of broken men. But do you know what all of those broken men will have that you and your kids don't?"

The pony was genuinely intrigued by Roach. "It doesn't matter. You and I, we are both fueled by a passion for revenge. I don't need your mind. I only need your body."

"Well, that's exactly what you don't have," Roach said. "Our minds. Which means you'll never fully control us, and therefore never your own army. Well, that, and you're too stupid to see that my colleague is right-" Roach was cut off as Ghost grunted loudly behind the pony as he brought a large rock straight down on her head. She was knocked to the ground, extremely dazed. "-behind you with a very heavy object," Roach finished. Just as the pony was drifting in and out of consciousness, she saw two armed figures standing above her. Ghost had come, and brought their weapons with him. Ghost leaned down to look her straight in the eye.

"A pleasure seeing you again," Ghost said. The Queen only barely managed a low growl. "Yeah, kinda hard to talk when you've probably got a concussion." He started to look around. "Last I checked, you said your little Changelings were gonna kill me if I so much as step foot out of the tunnel. But you don't wanna kill us, do you?"

Roach nudged his arm. "She wants to use us to make an army," he said. Ghost only laughed once.

"An army of dead men," Ghost continued. "I got some news for you, then. We're not some toys you can throw around and act like we'll keep working if you do. We learned the hard way that if you're gonna go down, go down fighting. I tried to, and I ate a bullet for it. If I was a split second faster, Shepherd would be lying in a pool of his own blood right alongside us. But I have to stand here and know that it's gonna be him standing on our families' doorsteps saying that we committed treason or some bollocks like that. Our time there is over, but here, we're needed. I've gotten some bad news that you wanna hurt a lot of innocent little ponies to get what you want. I'm not much of an animal lover, but I think protecting them is a pretty good priority. Now, I'd kill you right here and now, very slowly and very painfully, but I don't want all of your precious children to lose their mother right in front of them. I'm no monster. Unlike you." The Queen physically felt her blood run cold with fury, and her pupils dilated as she began to lose consciousness. "What's the matter, 'Queen'?" Ghost asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

And then she blacked out.

---

About twenty minutes later, Ghost had led the two of them back to one of the mouths of the cave. He pointed off in one direction.

"That way," Ghost said.

"Great," Roach said, and began to walk. "You can tell me the whole story of how the heck you got us out of that when we get back, but for right now, we gotta get back around some familiar faces-"

"We're not going back there," Ghost said.

Roach stopped, and without turning around asked, "Why not, Ghost?"

"I've got someone else waiting for me," Ghost replied. "He says he can help."

Roach slowly turned around, then paused before saying, "Good luck with that." Then he turned around and headed in the opposite direction. Ghost crossed his arms.

"Where are you going, Roach?"

"Back to Canterlot," he said.

"It's not that way." Roach stopped, then turned a different direction. "Or that way." Roach went another direction. "Not that way either." Roach finally gave up.

"Oh, really now?" Roach said. "I didn't realize you've studied this planet your whole life."

"I'm not saying I know which way it is. I'm just saying it's not any way you went." Before Roach could go on, Ghost spoke up again. "You've got to trust me, Roach. He's helped me once before. I can explain on the way."

Roach sighed. "You know, normally I'd say this is a crazy idea and it's only gonna get us killed, but it's your job to say that. So if you're not saying that, then you must know what you're doing. I'll take your word on it this once. Once. But only because you saved my hide. Lead the way, O' mighty captain. 'Tis your vessel now." Ghost said nothing, only shook his head and began to walk. Roach followed after. "When this is all over, drinks are on you."

"Roach," Ghost said as they left throwing distance from the cave, "I've got a bad feeling that we're never gonna have another pint again."

As they were walking away, they neglected to notice the whole of the Changeling army amassing behind them, and every single one was headed for Canterlot, with their battered and very angry Queen just behind them.

Ghost Stories, Part 1: Welcome to the S.A.S.

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Ghost Stories, Part 1: Welcome to the S.A.S.

One year ago...

"Stay with me, Gary. Eyes on me. Good. Now I want you to take a swing at me. Try to gimme something that'll hurt tomorrow."

"Sure you can take it?"

"Can't be as bad as getting shot, so I'd hope so. Now, hit me!"

Gary swung out with a right hook, aiming for Simon's jaw. Simon leaned back, turning his cheek into the punch. Gary just barely made impact, but impact nonetheless. Simon grunted, staggering back a pace. He touched a couple fingers to his lips. A couple drops of blood dotted his fingertips. He flicked them away, raising his fists again.

"Not bad. Now it's my turn."

He swung with an uppercut towards Gary's gut, but he was ready for it. Gary slid one foot back, Simon's fist grazing Gary's army green t-shirt. Gary responded with a shot towards Simon's ribs, but Simon reacted by swinging his leg, trying to trip Ghost up. Gary's punch missed, but he kicked Simon's leg away, knocking him off balance. As his leg swung up, Simon gasped as he felt Gary grab a hold of his ankle and push upwards, knocking him up and off balance. He fell backwards, hitting the padded mat with a thud, the air knocked from his lungs. He grabbed his chest, a noise escaping his throat that was somewhere between gasping and laughing.

"Not bad," Simon coughed.

"You ain't so bad yourself," Gary said, holding out a hand to help him up. Gary took it, pulling himself off the ground, brushing out his shirt.

"You're learning fast," Simon said. "You fight a lot better than you shoot, that's for bloody sure."

Gary gave Simon a gentle shove on the shoulder. "You watch yourself, bud. I might accidentally aim my sidearm at your kneecap next time we're at the shooting range."

"And I might kiss you at the pub one night and say I was drunk."

"Hey, if you buy me dinner, I'll take my shirt off first."

Simon shoved him back, but he was smiling. He patted Gary on the shoulder, and they went for the door.

"For the record," Simon said on the way out, "I could've stomped you like a roach if I wanted to. You know what? I think that's what I'll call you from now on. Roach. Sounds fitting."

"Oh, please," Gary rolled his eyes, "You went as white as a ghost when I threw you on your-" Simon punched him in the shoulder before he could finish. Gary shrugged as they left. "I'm telling ya, white as a ghost."

---

"And that's how you came to be known as Ghost and Roach?"

"That's right, mate."

"What did your C.O. think when you told him you wanted those names?"

"He thought they were bloody strange. So Roach asked him what kind of name Soap was."

"And what'd 'Soap' do?"

"... Smiled. Then patted us on the shoulders and welcomed us to the S.A.S. family. That was just before Soap took Roach to the mountains of Kazakhstan to retrieve some pretty valuable intel. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I'd see either of those bloody soldiers alive again. You can imagine my surprise when they came back in one piece."

"Where were you while they were in Kazakhstan?"

"In the chopper, waiting to pick them up."

"The chopper?"

"Didn't stutter, mate. The chopper. Was at the bottom of the mountain when the two of them came barreling down the mountain on snow bikes with at least ten more armed and very angry Russians following them. We were getting shot up all the way off that mountain. Lost two good men just trying to take off."

"You two must've been pretty close."

"... Yeah. We were."

"Some people say the two of you are heroes."

"I ain't no hero. I'm the one who's still breathing. Roach is the hero in all this. Best soldier I ever knew, and believe me, it's hard to find any good soldiers anymore."

"Just one more question. How did Roach-"

"I think we're out of time, mate."

"But how did he-"

"Yeah, we're out of time." Scree. "You should buy yourself a watch, mate."

Creeeak... Slam!

...

Sigh...

"Kill the tape."

...

Click.

A Ghost And A Roach

by Delta 727

Chapter 1: Awakening (Written By JWR832)

Chapter 2: Warm Welcome

Chapter 3: Back In The... Saddle?

Chapter 4: Misery Loves Company (And Cupcakes)

Chapter 5: We Want Answers

Chapter 6: Everything In My Power

Chapter 7: Hail To The Queen

Chapter 8: I Should Kill You. Slowly.

Ghost Stories, Part 1: Welcome to the S.A.S.